QBS Software has made its largest acquisition yet, entering into a definitive agreement to buy pan-European peer Prianto in a move that will propel its revenues towards $600m.
Boasting 2024 revenues of €194m, Munich-headquartered Prianto is QBS’ fourth acquisition inside 12 months and fourteenth in six years.
It also represents a gear change for London-based QBS as it chases down a $1bn revenue target via acquisitive and organic growth.
“This brings 170 new colleagues into the team and firmly establishes our value added distribution credentials which sit nicely with our software delivery platform,” QBS Software Group CEO Dave Stevinson told IT Channel Oxygen this morning.
“We are firmly on our way to $1bn.”
“Approaching $600m”
Characterising itself as the “world’s largest enterprise software delivery platform”, QBS recently signed its 12,000th SaaS vendor. It ranked 12th in IT Channel Oxygen’s Must-Know Distributors 2024.
Set to close at the end of February, the Prianto deal will mean QBS has recurring revenues “approaching $600m” and 400 employees across 12 geographies.
Founded in 2009, enterprise software specialist Prianto expanded into the UK in 2011 and now boasts a presence in 19 countries in Europe, North America and South Africa. At a group level, Prianto represents 50 vendors, including Quest, Suse, Opentext, Flexera, Sailpoint and Wallix.
The deal will also add further management might to QBS after its recruitment of Alex Tatham and Kevin James in October was likened to “signing Messi and Ronaldo”. Prianto co-founders William Geens and Oliver Roth previously had top exec roles at Arrow and Tech Data, while MD Thomas Kasper is an alumnus of ALSO and Tech Data.
Geens told IT Channel Oxygen: “When we first talked about the potential merger, it was obvious that there are huge potential synergies between the company to be stronger together. But what really makes it special is the professionalism, experience and expertise on both sides. We learn a lot from each other, get new ideas and will be able to form a world-class team together.”
Talking to IT Channel Oxygen, Rachel Brindley, Senior Director, Channels at analyst Canalys, said the deal “reflects a growing trend of distribution consolidation”.
“It brings significant management expertise into QBS, expands its geographic footprint and further extends QBS’ reach in software distribution. We expect to see further distribution M&A in 2025,” she said.
QBS’ revenues
Design by Doug WoodburnPrianto’s UK arm ranked 41st in IT Channel Oxygen’s Must-Know Distributors 2024, with calendar 2023 revenues of £14.2m. Its key vendors include Opentext, Quest, Droplet, NetBrain, Foxit, Unitrends, TeamViewer, Macrium, Liquit and Wallix.
QBS last year made three acquisitions in the shape of South African VADs Maxtec and Titus Corp, and Hungarian outfit KSKFT.
But it has a thirst for more deals, according to Stevinson.
“I also intend to complete one more acquisition this quarter subject to approval from the competition commission,” he revealed.
Doug Woodburn is editor of IT Channel Oxygen
